“…Sorry, what is Cheecoting?” Ok, let me explain! First of all, this post is waiting here to be written for two months now. People involved in this GP were quite nervous and kept asking about it until they lost their hopes. Finally… here it is, folks, the 1st Official Lavinio Cheecoting Grand Prix! Cheecoting is a quite amusing marble game, where plastic marbles are kicked with fingers in a circuit built in the sand. This game was very popular in the eighties in Italy, and involved kids from 5 to 75 years :-)

Apollo 13 Ciambella

Nowadays, the game has lost some of its appeal, but we always tried to make one big race every summer, in the first days of september, when the beaches are emptying.

First of all, we needed some extra energy for the tough day planned, therefore we had breakfast in Lavinio’s best bar, Apollo 13, with its “mythical” doughnuts (ciambelle). With full stomach, you can always play better.

Circuit construction

After a nice morning in the beach, and when Giovanni the lifeguard gave us the “building permit”, we started planning our circuit. A long straight, some chicanes, two very complex traps (where the marbles could get stuck or roll back to the initial position).

Complete Lavinio GP circuit

During the construction (nearly two hours), literally tens of kids came around in admiration to see how a bunch of old people in their thirties could act more childish than them and have fun without any PSP or Nintendo or similar…

The Circuit Engineers…

This image shows the most complex trap built by Stefano, along with the 5 proud circuit engineers, whereas the last one shows the whole playing group.

We had a great afternoon, and I must admit I don’t remember exactly the final placement… I think it was:

  1. …and the pilots!Stefano
  2. ???
  3. Marco
  4. Roberto
  5. ???
  6. ???

Can’t remember… Please help!
If you are interested in this beach game, just give a look to these other links I’ve found. It seems we are not the only crazy people around… And let’s involve even more people next year!

http://www.bigliedaspiaggia.it/ -- Rimini official Cheecoting Tournament

http://www.pisteperbiglie.it/ -- Some goodies and utilities for circuit design

http://biglieinpista.blogspot.com/ -- Blog over Cheecoting

http://www.formulasteve.it/ -- Cheecoting Grand Prix results